A year to live for
by bhut
Summary: Inspired by the mid-april challenge at primevalarchive.
1. Chapter 1

**April showers**

_Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine, but belong to Impossible Pictures™._

It was noon, but the weather still wasn't as hot as it was last afternoon: Connor and Abby found themselves sweating not too heavily and the urge to walk around practically naked wasn't so strong either.

Admittedly, the luxuriantly green plants – prehistoric-looking tree ferns and giant horsetails, as well as more modern looking conifer and broadleaf trees – could have to do something with that: they provided plenty of shade and cover from the hot Cretaceous sun overhead and the sunstroke that it could cause, as well as from more down-to-Earth threats...hopefully.

Right now, though, it appeared that some of those potential threats weren't as threatening in practice as Abby has thought: the herd of the horned dinosaurs was impressive, physically speaking, but when it came to mental processes, all that they were concerned was, was grazing.

"Those animals just eat and, um, defecate," Abby groaned as she and Connor continued to observe the dinosaurs in question from deep within their impromptu hideout. "I swear this is just as boring – or exciting, if you want to get picky – as working at the zoo at some of the big enclosures. That is why, by the way, I prefer to work with lizards, with them any expectations are _already_ low, and-"

"Hush, Abby, please – I'm observing one of the juvenile males," Connor was clearly enjoying this more so than his girlfriend. "See the one that still has faint stripes on his sides and back? I think that he's feeling macho-"

With a pronounced, snorting cry the male that Connor was pointing at approached one of its cohorts that was one of the top males in this herd. By standards of Connor or Abby (or any other mammal of this time) the huge dinosaur was moving quite slowly, but as it came closer and closer to its rival, it picked up speed until the two dinosaurs practically slammed into each other with some clearly resounding slams!

"Amazing," Connor muttered as soon as his teeth stopped chattering from the spread-out impact of the blow. "Simply amazing, isn't it Abby?"

Privately, Abby thought that when two male giraffes in the zoo decided to fight for dominance they did it with much more elegance and style – here the two dinosaurs just pushed against each other with their snouts and horns, trying to overpower each other through muscle force alone. Frankly, Abby couldn't understand what Connor was so excited about, besides the fact that those were _live dinosaurs_ that were acting the way animals in a zoo, or in a wildlife park, or in a-

Abruptly, the horns of one of the dinosaurs slipped past its opponent's guard and stabbed the dinosaur's frill. Immediately the wounded victim squealed loudly, broke-off the struggle and fled as fast as it could from the scene of battle.

"Oh boy, oh boy, that was fun," Connor spoke in a rather excited tone of voice. "And to think that you thought that dinosaurs were boring! If Nick was here-"

Something cracked underfoot – but it wasn't Connor's foot and it wasn't just a stick, but an entire dry log, dry enough not to endure the full weight of a T-Rex as it charged from less than 9 meters away from the two humans, fortuitously less interested in them than in the horned dinosaur.

Naturally, that was a good thing: the poor dinosaur didn't have a chance: the tyrannosaurus's monstrous jaws clamped on its back and shoulder and half-ripped half-pulled him downwards. Already tired and wounded, the horned dinosaur had no chance to escape – it fell and the carnivore began to dismember it mostly live.

"Better it than us, right?" Abby muttered to Connor, who, however, was ignoring the procedures but was rather noisily sick into some flowering shrubs.

"OK, then," Abby said slowly, biting down the tasteless remark that they almost went off to visit Nick in the afterlife instead. "Let's leave now before the scavengers arrive."

And that's just what they did.

* * *

When the temperature surrounding you averages 26 degrees _Celsius_ a dip in a river sounds like quite a pleasant idea – and it is. Considering, however, that giant carnivores during the Late Cretaceous lived in fresh water as well as land, this idea was also more risky than how it first appeared.

"You know, one good thing about us being the only people in the world at this time is that we don't have to worry about our clothes being stolen while we bathe," Abby admitted after a while, when Connor's shock at seeing his first T-Rex kill has faded somewhat and he no longer stank of fear (probably, she couldn't really tell). "What do you think, Connor?"

"Well," Connor finally found his voice, "I guess that since you've been constantly complaining that you didn't see any similarities between dinosaurs and birds, it was only a matter of time before we ran into a dinosaur that was similar, you know?"

Abby blinked. "T-Rex is similar to a bird?"

"Mostly in its feet, but there's a reasonable theory that T-Rex chicks were feathered in downy feathers as well, eh? You see, Abby, the tyrannosaur branch of the dinosaur carnivores' family was quite far away from the birds, but because both birds and tyrannosaurs had ancestors related to the raptors' ancestors, they are cousins..."

"What about those small guys?" Abby interrupted Connor's rumbles and pointed his attention to a herd of small (well, human-sized actually) plant-eating bipedal dinosaurs that were grazing on river-side's vegetation. "Are they related to birds?"

"No; in fact, I suspect that these guys have gotten here from the Jurassic, via a conveniently located time anomaly, and adapted to life here," Connor shrugged. "Then again, it's the little guys who always adapt quicker than the big ones."

"Connor, around here, _we're_ the little guys," Abby said, rather bemusedly. "Especially when compared to such horned train engines as those," she pointed to herd of the horned dinosaurs that had recovered from the tyrannosaurus's attack and were now approaching the opposite end of the river bend to drink. As their heavy feet trod the ground, several small animals, no bigger than a dachshund or a beagle fled from them.

"Abby? I think those were prehistoric mammals," Connor said in an awed tone of voice. "They may have been the first primate ancestors! This is biological history in the making and we're witnessing it!"

"Yeah, well, Connor, honestly? I would rather we'd be witnessing it with a way to get back to our time or even with some more people from our time, 'cause these guys? They look less like us and more like some of the rats that the bigger lizards used to feed upon!"

Unfortunately (or fortunately, it all depended on one's point of view), Connor had ignored Abby's latest statement and instead was focusing his attention on some of the bipedal dinosaurs which have separated from the main herd and have wondered closer to them in order to secure better places to drink.

Whoosh! A massive wave swept Connor and Abby aside, flinging them onto the shore, even as the bipedal herbivores fled inland, leaving the territory... to a huge crocodile whose massive jaws were snapping in vain, and its small but evil eyes gazing around... focusing on still prone Abby and Connor...

"How lovely!" Abby muttered as the deinosuchus began to move towards them and they hastened to join the dinosaurs into fleeing from the river. "It has not been yet full day yet and we've been in mortal peril twice already!"

_TBC..._


	2. Chapter 2

**September's dryness**

_Disclaimer: Abby and Connor belong to Impossible Pictures™._

It was five months later, according to calculations of Abby and Connor. The nearby river, so full of water back then, now had significantly dried down and the two chronologically displaced people now had to trek for quite some distance to get their water, and that was quite dangerous.

To make matters worse, as the water level dropped, so did the vegetation wither, and if before Abby and Connor felt that they were usually well-concealed from the carnivores, now they weren't – and when the pterosaurs began to appear, it was practically the last drop.

"Okay, what in this time is that and why does it look like a lovechild between a heron and a giraffe?" Abby spat through dust-speckled lips as they observed several vaguely griffon-like giants drink their own fill from the river that was no longer green and semi-transparent, but yellowish and clearly murky. "Don't tell me – they have come from the future as well."

"No, those are pterosaurs, most likely a family of quetzalcoatlus," Connor said with less enthusiasm than before. "These flying reptiles were the last of their kind and certainly the biggest."

"Yeah, well, as far as flying reptiles go, these ones appear to be remarkably reluctant to lift-off," Abby said flatly, as she and Connor watched the pterosaurs walk on dry land about as fast as some of the smaller dinosaurs, and neatly catch small animals such as mammals and lizards with their beaks. "Are they dangerous to us?"

"Probably no more than some of the bigger waterfowl back in the Britain," Connor shrugged. "I'd say that we risk it."

"And I say no. If a crane – a bird, not a machine – would want to peck your eye out, it could very easily do so, and a big swan could break your leg with a similar ease. Those guys look taller than some of the animals back in the zoo, so we give them a wide berth, okay?"

"Abby, I understand your point, I really do, but do you think that we can afford it?"

Abby fell silent and looked at her interlocutor. During the five months (give or take a week or three, accuracy was not the stronger point of either of them) their appearance changed drastically. Formerly clear-cut Connor (not that there was a lot of facial hair to cut away initially) now sprouted a rather amazing amount of facial hair that grew from his chin down almost to his navel and from the back of his head even further down.

But then again, so it was with Abby, as her former pixie cut now was more closely related to Rapunzel's famous hair...only not so well-combed, but rather tied-up in several literal knots several times in several rows... and that was just the beginning of the problem. The severe wear and tear on their clothing was another part, and so was the basic hygiene – something that Connor didn't hesitate to talk about next.

"Abby, I look as hairy as Robinson Crusoe...and not in a good way, I should add. You, um, you're well in the same state as I am, so can we really afford not to bathe?" Connor said meekly, aware that recently Abby could be really irritable.

"Don't preach to me, Connor, I am aware of our situation as well," Abby snapped. "The only thing that irritates me more is that Danny, apparently, has either died alongside Helen or was forced to abandon us here, for those are the only reasons-"

"Abby! Hush!" Connor frantically gesticulated and pointed to the other side of the river. There, seemingly manifesting straight out of the dry haze came another pack of raptors, very similar to the ones that had chased them and Danny Quinn up a tree almost half a year ago, during spring. Only right now there were no trees to flee to, the only obstacle was a rather shallow river... and a flock of grazing pterosaurs, who looked decisively less than impressed by the new arrivals.

"And now... we retreat," Abby muttered angrily. Unlike the tyrannosaurs, raptors were much more interested into smaller prey, such as them. Consequently, they would chase it with a lot more enthusiasm than the T-Rex would, and the results were potentially much deadlier.

This time, though, the attention of the raptors was focused not on Abby and Connor, but on the pterosaurs, who reciprocated fully, and clearly did not intend to flee in panic – a fact noticed by Connor.

"This doesn't make sense," he muttered, as they retreated back to the now-scanty tree cover. "On ground, they are much slower than the dinosaurs, by now they should be trying to pick up speed to get airborne-"

The raptors charged. Instead of fleeing, the quetzalcoatlus formed a semi-circular line of defence and began to lash-out with their beaks, clearly calling the raptors' bluff, which did indeed hesitate and began to wonder, if this meal was worth an injury-

The ground shook as a heavy body trod upon it – one of the giant crocodilians has been attracted by the commotion as well, and unlike the raptors, it was more than qualified to take on the landed quetzalcoatlus.

Immediately, as if their limbs had springs installed in them, the pterosaurs jumped upwards. Their wings unfurled like sails on ships, and with several quick flaps they were up and away in the high sky. But the raptors weren't so lucky: the deinosuchus' jaws snapped shut upon one of them.

As the rest of the dinosaurs fled from the still-hungry river giant, chattering like monkeys or birds, Abby and Connor just fled deeper into the drying-out forest, further away from the river.

"It's official," Abby muttered, the look on her face daring Connor to defy her. "Life in the late Cretaceous sucks."

_TBC_


	3. Chapter 3

**By the end of November...**

_Disclaimer: Abby and Connor belong to Impossible Pictures™._

Another two – practically three – more months passed in the late Cretaceous. During that time, Connor managed to invent scissors, which meant that some aspects of personal hygiene could be now resolved – namely the hair issues.

"Well, glad to see that we're finally re-starting to look like ourselves!" Connor spoke proudly to Abby one fine morning in late November. "Now all that we need to do is to invent some sort of soap or something, and we can start to invent needles next!"

"Interesting plan," Abby nodded sagely, "but there is a flaw in it, I would think."

"Oh? What flaw?"

"There aren't any big furry animals around, Connor! Or cotton or any similar plants! From what we could invent thread to use with needles?"

"Well," Connor rubbed his still very hairy chin, "that is a very good point. Can't we use sinews or something?"

"Sinews of what?" Abby wouldn't let up.

Now Connor was quite aware that logically he was at a dead end, as always, in no small part because neither he nor Abby actually had a good idea how to spin thread or what to invent to make thread spinning possible (yes, they knew that they needed a spindle or a loom to do that, but how to invent them – they had no idea), and because Abby's point were very true as well-

A sudden clang that resonated in the jungle caused Connor to break away from his line of thought. "What was it?" asked Abby, also startled by the sudden loud sound. "It sounds kind of familiar."

"That's because it is," Connor said grumpily. "The horned herbivore dinosaurs have started their mating period, which includes fights for dominance." He hesitated but asked anyways: "Want to sneak a peek?"

Personally, Abby wasn't all that enthused to go and witness several multi-ton primeval versions of rhinos settle their scores in the old-fashioned way, but Connor lately was looking rather downcast, so she just nodded in consent instead.

"Let's go, then."

Since their last meeting with the horned dinosaurs – whether they were triceratopses or some other specie – the latter didn't change much, except that now the herd was composedly mostly of adult animals and very few smaller juveniles, who retained several very faint horizontal stripes on their bodies and looked somewhat nervous (inasmuch an expressionless dinosaur can look nervous) and clearly intent on leaving the herd before some of the adults made them.

Connor's attention, however, wasn't focused on the juveniles, but on the adults in the front of the herd. Two of these adult males were once more engaged in a fight for dominance, their horned heads and protected necks straining against each other, generating the crude, clanging sounds of horn striking horn and bone.

For some reason that Abby could never fully understand, Connor – as usual – was awestruck by the sight of two dinosaurs engaging in animal activities. Abby, however, liked dinosaurs not so much, and consequently she was able to be more attentive to the surrounding countryside: that was why she was able to notice the approaching danger first.

"Raptors!" she abruptly exhaled, jabbing Connor in the ribs. "Connor, we must retreat!"

Indeed, a small pack of raptors had appeared in some distance. Not too long ago there would've been a river that separated them from Abby, Connor and the horned dinosaurs, but now the river was gone, leaving in its place just a series of unconnected pools and bogs and mudflats and sandbars. And right now, a smallish pack of raptors was navigating through one of those mudflats, clearly intent to observe the fighting of the herbivores much more closely.

Connor, however, didn't seem to be very bothered by the new development. "Abby, don't worry," he whispered to her. "The raptors are more interested in attacking the potential loser than us. By the time they switch their attention to us, we will be long gone, so relax and-"

With a thunderous bellow, the water in one of the pools exploded, revealing a pair of monstrous jaws that snapped on the raptors like a pair of tongs and pulled it underwater, causing the rest of the pack to scatter.

"Fascinating!" Connor's attention switched from the herbivores to the now-fleeing raptors. "It seems that deinosuchus made burrows to wait-out the drought, just like the modern American alligators."

A heavy snort resonated through the silence that remained after the raptors had fled from the hidden menace – and it wasn't from the deinosuchus. Rather, it was another one of the herbivores, who had finally noticed Connor and Abby, and was now approaching them with an increasingly faster trot, it head held low, and its longer horns pointing straight ahead.

"I see," Connor said, not missing a beat. "Rutting dinosaurs are like the stags of modern moose and deer – they attack practically anything that is not a female of their species. Abby, run!"

And that was exactly what they did, pursued by a very cranky dinosaur with a testosterone overload.

"Connor," Abby snarled, "when we get back, you're so making up for this!"

_TBC..._


	4. Chapter 4

**January – a happy new year?**

_Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine but belong to Impossible Pictures™._

Something was wrong, Abby just knew it. Almost a year has passed since Connor and she had come to late Cretaceous, which meant – if Connor had explained to her correctly – that the dry season should be ending and the wet or rainy season beginning... but it wasn't.

The big river had practically dried-out, leaving an expense of sun-baked mud...complete with mummified bodies of the water creatures, including the giant Cretaceous crocodiles or alligators (Abby wasn't quite sure what they were) sealed in it and there was no water left.

There was no dew left either, and Abby, for one, was beginning to feel more and more desiccated by the day, more and more weak and thin. Admittedly, Abby was never practically heavy, but now she was bonier than anything else, and that bothered her – a lot.

Connor, on the other hand, seemed rather unbothered by the fact that the two of them now resembled a pair of skeletons with some skin stretched rather tightly over it – instead, he continued to lead their mini-expedition, telling Abby that all will be all right, that they will reach the sea and there will be the river's delta, which will just have to have water, it just will have to- Abby didn't dissuade him: she feared that without that dream to keep them going, both she and Connor would just lay down and die then and there-

Suddenly, Abby became aware that while she hadn't lain down, she did stop moving and just continued to stare blankly and Connor was growing increasingly in trying to get her to re-start movement.

"Abby, Abby we've got to go," he said urgently, shaking her by the shoulders. "We can't stay here, it's too exposed!"

"So what?" Abby's lips moved before her brain could catch up with them. "The old money-lender and my lame ex-suitor had fed me a black toad. Connor, set us both alight – this world won't notice us gone, for Helen has won and we're the last people ever to live."

"Abby, you may be delirious, but don't say that," was Connor's only reply and he began to pull her by the arm. "Let's just go – I can smell the water from behind that hill's crest."

"You're only saying this to make me feel better. And I don't have an ex-suitor, all I had was Stephen, but he had eyes only for Cutter – or the other Cutter, and the two of them just ripped him to pieces until there was nothing left."

"Abby, don't say that. Future predators tore Stephen apart, and while I agree that Helen had some things to do with that – waa!"

The hill's crest on which Abby and Connor were walking upon promptly collapsed and the two of them went rolling down hill amongst clods of dirt. Before long, of course, one of these clods hit Abby square in the top of her head and then darkness claimed her.

Abby would never admit it, but it _was_ the smell of water that roused her out of stupor: she opened her eyes and there it was a smallish stream of rather clay-coloured water that did indeed go to the sea which was flowing just a short distance away, looking rather worse for wear in its own way.

Half crawling, half stumbling on all four legs, Abby made her way across the dry expense to the stream, aware only dimly of Connor following her alongside, dragging his stick with him (he picked it up to use as a weapon against smaller predators and also to club small animals for food) as well as of several raptors, the leader of which was staring right across them over the stream-

"Abby," Connor began slowly, but Abby didn't care: she just stared at the raptor, daring it to pounce, when the dinosaur emitted a sound rather like that of a whistling tea kettle and promptly collapsed, landing face first in the stream.

"Err, Abby," Connor began, but Abby didn't feel like listening to him at the moment: she leaned over the stream – almost toppled into it, actually – and almost began to drink from it, when she noticed something on the water's surface. She whirled around to take a better look – but it was gone, and Connor was insistently pointing upwards into the air.

"What?" Abby looked upwards and saw one of the big flying reptiles of this time, swooping down at them, with its beak outstretched like a spear, aimed directly at them.

Something snapped in Abby, though not in a literal way. Jerkingly, she grasped Connor's impromptu club and swung it at the swooping pterosaur, connecting solidly with its' beak. This didn't harm the flying reptile at all, but it did cause him to miss and fly further out over the sea shallows proper. Immediately, a dark body shape easily 7 meters long burst from the depths and dragged the pterosaur into the murky depths with a single splash – apparently the sea shallows weren't so shallow after all.

"Maybe it's a sea reptile, maybe a shark, maybe a bony fish – I heard about such living the Cretaceous waters," Connor mused. "Uh, Abby, what are you doing?"

"I'm drinking," Abby muttered as she gulped down another mouthful of water. "And yes, I know that this may cause disease, but better that than thirst of hungry, do you understand?"

Connor gulped and followed the lead of Abby and the raptors, which also proceeded to drink the opaque waters. Of course, since he knew what he was looking for, he could see (or at least he thought that he did) see the tiny reflection of the meteorite, but he decided to keep this information away from Abby – she'll learn about this soon enough; for now, hunger and thirst were more important...

And so, Connor stopped his musings for now and continued to drink. He didn't dare to think that they _were_ doomed unless a miracle would come soon – no, he just put his trust into his optimistic nature and he slaked his thirst.

_To be continued..._


	5. Chapter 5

**February – the meteorite is here!**

_Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine but belong to Impossible Pictures™._

Contrary to Connor's expectations, the meteorite did catch them unawares, not to mention that he had miscalculated somewhat: the meteorite did not arrive within moments within of his and Abby's arrival on the coast, but several hours later, on February first, according to his calculations (which, admittedly, weren't flawless, but still)...

And there were several other factors that caused Connor's meteorite watch to fail, and the most first one of them all was water. Fresh water to be exact, for there was plenty of other water - undrinkable one...

"No, no, and no," Abby said firmly later on the day when they have fought off a pterosaur. "We're not leaving this river – not without the best of reason. A person can survive days without food, but will not last without water. Thirst tastes of death, said one website dedicated to survival in the wilderness, and after several days of our living on edge, I can fully vouchsafe for that. So, we're not experimenting once more, got it?"

"But, Abby, there's nothing to eat – and the raptors look hungry," Connor complained, painfully aware that his voice seemed to have developed some wholly unexpected whining notes. "Come on, trust me once more, and follow my lead-"

"Where to? Around the sea? Connor, from one of your impromptu lectures, I remember that we may run into the North American inland sea, and I will not have us trip all around it, or partway around it, or whatever!"

"But Abby what if, what if-"

"What?"

But Connor had shut his mouth. Through his internal common sense, he was able to realize that to tell Abby of his suspicions on the upcoming Armageddon was not a good thing, and so he kept his silence for once. And so that was how that day had ended – in relative silence, as he and Abby searched for the retreat for this night and the nights that were coming ahead (hopefully).

And eventually, they found it.

Their new place to live was a coastal cave, made, apparently, by millennia of ebbing and flowing tides, which eventually made such a deep indentation in the rock, fortunately leaving some to act as a roof.

"Nice, very homey," Connor said, trying not to launch yet another argument with his girlfriend, "but, I don't know, isn't it kind of obvious and revealing? Let alone the fact that we might catch cold from the wind, we might get ambushed by a wandering tyrannosaur or some other carnivore, like that pterosaur-"

"Connor," Abby's voice dropped, causing him to gulp. "How many big animals did we see since leaving that original patch of forest? Fewer and fewer, especially as the drought grew worse and worse. And before you point out that there is an off chance, I want to point out that big carnivores tend to follow the herds and the herds tend to follow the plants – so, how many plants did we see here on our way here?"

"Not much, and the ones that are appear mostly dead," Connor admittedly quietly. "That's not good, is it?"

"No, it's not," Abby admittedly, sounding just as quiet. "I'm no palaeontologist, but even I can see that this world is dying – maybe it's the comet, maybe something else, but this is not how it is supposed to be, I bet."

"No, it's not," Connor admitted, "it's the upcoming meteorite – it's still a long distance away from here, yet it is already throwing the climate out of order. This world is dying, Abby, you're right – the actual meteorite was just the finishing touch on the whole unpleasant mess, you know?"

Unexpectedly (for Abby) Connor exhaled hard and looked considerably less optimistic than before when they arrived at the river's end. Not surprisingly, Abby was not pleased to see that development, either.

"All right, Connor, relax – after we'll check the cave, we'll go digging for shellfish or something," she quickly told him...and then Murphy's Law decided strike – or rather, the sea monster did. All that Connor was able to notice was yet another massive wave of opaque sea water charging towards them, and then Abby pulled him to his left, away from the charging predator...

They made it, but their spirits were once more brought low: it is hard to remain optimistic, when there is nothing to eat on land, and in the water – there were things to eat in the water: small shellfish and crabs and other crustaceans that looked very edible to Abby and Connor by now – there were things that wanted to eat them, creatures that their eyes resembled nothing more than fluke-and-flipper powered jaws, studded with extra-long fangs.

Admittedly, there were things on land that wanted to eat them too, potentially, like the raptors that seemed to have decided to hang around with them. Abby partially expected Connor to respond to this with some sarcasm or comment about Abby's earlier statement that they were strangers in a strange – or maybe dying – land, but after seeing those snapping jaws burst at him and Abby from the sea, he clearly wasn't in the talkative mood... and perhaps he was happy for the raptors' company as well.

Surprisingly, it seemed to be reciprocated by the raptors: they didn't try to attack the two people – maybe Abby's fighting had intimidated them, or maybe they were lonely as well: unlike, say, the T-Rex, the raptors seemed to be social creatures and they probably didn't feel too well being on their own or in really small group... or maybe it was something else.

Either way, though, the raptors did _not_ attempt to attack Abby or Connor, and they _were_ content in assisting with beach-combing activity, even as the sun sank lower and lower in the sky – and then the world grew brighter.

"What the-?" Abby blinked, trying to make sense of their world once more, and Connor's shaking did not help the matters any, either.

"Abby, do you _see_?"

And then Abby saw: a time anomaly, twinkling in its chromatically white light at the mouth of their designated cave.

"Connor," Abby whispered in wonder, "is it our way-"

The earth shook. Connor and Abby put their rejoicing on hold and whirled around: a huge, black wall of sea water, crowned with greyish-white foam, was looming towards them, ready to erase every sign of life on the beach, including Abby and Connor.

Needless to say, the aforementioned couple did not stay and passively wait for their fate – instead they raced along the coast towards the time anomaly, followed by the raptors, perhaps out shear desperation, perhaps of something else.

As they raced, Abby thought that she had caught _other_ signs of movement out of corners of her eye, perhaps Connor did too, but it didn't matter, as the wall of seawater seemed to connect the land and the sky, it obliterated everything else in her line of sight, it practically reached out to embrace, drown and smash them into the coastal cliffs, and then-

The first sounds that Abby heard with her sluggish hearing were the bubbling of a brook, the singing of the birds, and the chattering of monkeys – wait, what?

Abruptly, Abby sat up and rubbed her eyes. Immediately, her sight was assaulted by the wall of multiple colours – green, white, pink, dark red, yellow and so on. The sounds were already there, as were the creatures that emitted them – both the birds and small monkeys or lemurs that sat on low-slung branches, starring with curiosity at the raptors, which were busy eating up some small animal-

"Connor," Abby said gently, rubbing him on his arms and shoulders, "wake up – we made it!"

"Not now, Abby, I'm dreaming that we're in Paradise – oh," Connor blinked, sat up, opened his eyes and took a look around, starring especially hard at the curious lemurs or whatever else the local primates were. "Looks like we're in the Eocene instead. Sweet!"

"Why – besides the obvious?"

"'Cause we've survived, Abby, and now probably have all the time in the world to figure out our next move!" Connor said delightedly and jumped up. "Come on, Abby, let's frolic!"

...As the two people jumped up and around the jungle clearing like a pair of young lovers that they were, the waters of the local brook bubbled down into a lake, at the bottom of which bubbled something else – carbon dioxide gas. The lake that would one day become the Messel fossil site was almost ready to blow...and to give extinction yet another shot at Connor and Abby.

_The end of "A Year to Live"_


End file.
